


Try

by wilddragonflying



Series: Sterek Songverse [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, M/M, P!nk - Freeform, Song fic, Try
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-16
Updated: 2013-08-16
Packaged: 2017-12-23 17:00:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/928939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wilddragonflying/pseuds/wilddragonflying
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where there is desire<br/>There is gonna be a flame<br/>Where there is a flame<br/>Someone's bound to get burned<br/>But just because it burns<br/>Doesn't mean you're gonna die<br/>You gotta get up and try try try</p>
            </blockquote>





	Try

**Author's Note:**

> So, I was listening to my Favorites playlist on shuffle, and this and three other songs came on, one right after the other, and this verse was born.

_Ever wonder about what he's doing_   
_How it all turned to lies_   
_Sometimes I think that it's better_   
_to never ask why_

 

Stiles didn’t know where they went wrong. He and Derek had been getting along pretty well, he’d thought. Then, it was like someone hit “reset.” Now Derek was back to the way he’d been in the beginning: slamming Stiles up against walls, snarling, growling, and generally trying to intimidate the teenager. Unfortunately for Derek, that had stopped working approximately three seconds after the first time he’d tried it.

Stiles snorted as P!nk’s “Try” came on over the radio in his room. Fit his mood perfectly; he didn’t know what was going on, but right now, he was willing to try just about anything to figure it out.

To figure _them_ out.

 

_Funny how the heart can be deceiving_   
_More than just a couple times_   
_Why do we fall in love so easy_   
_Even when it's not right_

He’d gone to the loft, ready to have it out with Derek, no matter what. He was not about to let his sourwolf backsli—

Wait.

 _His_ sourwolf?

The thought made Stiles still in his seat, one hand resting on the driver’s door of his Jeep.

 _His_?

Derek wasn’t—Derek wasn’t his. Stiles didn’t _want_ Derek to be his.

Didn’t he?

Stiles worried his thumbnail as he thought, his brain automatically shifting into what Isaac called his “Detective Stiles” mode. And the more Stiles thought, the more certain he grew.

He was in love with Derek.

He didn’t know how, or when, or—Well, he did know why.

But still; the Alpha would never have him. Since they’d beaten the Alpha pack and Derek had gotten his Alpha powers back, taken them from Kali, while Stiles and Allison had teamed up to take down Deucalion, Derek had been a much better Alpha, a better person.

Well, _now_ he couldn’t go up there and talk to Derek—Not with that recent revelation on his mind. Knowing him, he’d do something to give it away. And Stiles did _not_ want that; he didn’t want to further upset his relationship with Derek.

 

_Ever worried that it might be ruined_   
_And does it make you wanna cry?_   
_When you're out there doing what you're doing_   
_Are you just getting by?_   
_Tell me are you just getting by by by_

 

Stiles was sitting cross-legged on his bed, studying the letter that proudly accepted him to VirginiaTechUniversity. There was another, next to him, an acceptance to MontanaStateUniversity. He was debating just how far away he wanted to get from Beacon Hills; both schools were offering him full rides. On the one hand, Stiles wanted to stay closer so that he could be more available if a supernatural crisis came up. On the other, he wanted to be farther away so that he wouldn’t be available if a supernatural crisis came up and required him to work with Derek.

Derek had suddenly started being nice to him again—actually, he was nicer than before. It was more than Stiles could take. He just—He just wanted _out_.

 

_Where there is desire_   
_There is gonna be a flame_   
_Where there is a flame_   
_Someone's bound to get burned_   
_But just because it burns_   
_Doesn't mean you're gonna die_   
_You gotta get up and try try try_

The night before Stiles was boarding his plane for Virginia, Derek came in through his window.

Stiles, who’d been packing a suitcase, looked up in surprise. “Hey,” he said, studying Derek. The werewolf didn’t look good; he almost looked sick. “You okay?”

“No,” Derek said quietly, but it was so simple, and he looked straight at Stiles as he said it, and Stiles could read the truth there: Derek really wasn’t okay.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, putting down the shirt he’d been about to tuck into the suitcase.

“What’s wrong?” Derek echoed, one hand coming up to fist in his hair; Stiles thought he could see the edges of claws. Derek sounded… He sounded _wrecked_. “What’s wrong is that you’re going all the way across the country,” he mumbled, defeat coloring every inch of him.

Now Stiles was really concerned. He moved closer, reaching out to lay a hand on Derek’s shoulder, but the Alpha flinched away from his touch, and Stiles froze, hurt crashing over him. “Why—Derek, you know it’s just for—“

“For what? College? A few years?” Derek laughed, but it was bitter and hollow. Lifeless. “Stiles, when you go to college in a different state, you tend to _stay_ in that state.”

“You don’t know that that’s what I’ll do,” Stiles argued, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly. “I just really like Virginia Tech—“

“Because it’s so far away from me.”

Stiles froze at the words. Because, well, because they were true. Normally, he wouldn’t have seriously considered Tech, but one major plus was that it was far away from Beacon Hills, from Derek; maybe distance would make his stupid crush( _Not exactly just a crush,_ his mind whispered, and Stiles tried to ignore it.) go away. Then he could come home.

Stiles was quiet for too long; by the time he could speak, Derek’s eyes were shuttered, but not before Stiles had seen the hurt settling into their depths. “I understand,” Derek said quietly. “I’ve never given you any reason to feel like pack, or a friend.” He paused, looked like he wanted to say more, but then he shook his head and left through the window.

Stiles couldn’t help thinking—in some distant part of his mind that _could_ think past the despair threatening to crush him—that it would be the last time Derek would do something like that.

That he’d just inadvertently burned the most important bridge between Derek and himself.


End file.
